Secret Recipe Club: Haymishe Bagels

It's time for the April edition of Secret Recipe Club, and this month I was assigned Laura Rees of This is How We Eat. Laura started to blog as a way to keep a journal of recipes she enjoyed and recipes that she created.

We chose to make her bagels because we've never made bagels before. I've always been intimidated by the idea, but I think it's because it's baking, and I'm not a big fan of that. Aside from part of forming the bagels and the boiling (a stove-top activity), I hid in the basement and made myself scarce for most of the process.

Of course, there's a cost to that as well. Meredith kinda went rogue and ended up using whole wheat flour instead of white flour. On top of that, we used regular yeast instead of quick-rise (that was my fault, I bought the wrong one because as I've mentioned, I'm not a baker), and we used honey instead of sugar to sweeten the water for boiling.

But there's more. We were so impressed with how the whole-wheat bagels turned out, we decided to make a second batch using white flour as well (pictured at the top of the post).

Haymishe Bagels

1 package yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
7 cups flour (white or whole wheat)
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 cups warm water
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup honey
1 egg, beaten (for the egg wash, right before baking)

1. Combine yeast with 1/4 cup warm water and 1 tsp sugar, mix and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Whisk together flour salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
3. Using a stand-mixer with the dough hook running on low, slowly add the yeast, water and oil.
4. Continue mixing until the dough is stretchy - about 10 minutes.
5. Rub dough with some olive oil and place in a bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a towel and let dough rise for an hour.
6. After the dough has risen, line two or three baking sheets with parchment paper.
7. Punch the dough down and divide it into four equal parts. Divide each quarter into four equal parts again.
8. Roll each piece into a ball and punch a hole through with your thumb. Gently tease the opening and make it bigger until it's around 2-3 inches in diameter [Dan: Meredith's words, not mine!]. Place all bagels onto a sheet, cover them, and let them rise for an additional 20 minutes.
9. While the bagels rise, preheat the oven to 450-degrees (using the convection setting if available) and fill a large pot with water and the 1/4 cup honey and bring it to a boil.
10. After the bagels rise, boil them in batches, for a little over one minute (flipping them over after the first 30 seconds) and place them back on the baking sheets.
11. Brush the bagels with the egg wash and top them with poppy seeds or sesame seeds.
12. Bake bagels for 15-20 minutes or until golden, rotating the bagels between top- and bottom-shelf halfway through.

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Peanut Salad Dressing

I forgot to take a photo of the salad before we ate,
however, we used the dressing as a dip as well.

A short while ago was National Peanut Butter Day.

While my son decided to have a fluffernutter sandwich for dinner (that's marshmallow fluff and peanut butter for the un-initiated), we decided to use the peanut butter elsewhere in our meal.

I prepared a salad with shredded carrot, snow peas, a few other vegetables and some sort of dried/puffed noodles and whipped together a salad dressing loosely based on one I saw at Our Best Bites. The original recipe was Thai, however, we omitted the Siracha sauce, cilantro (we didn't have any) and swapped out the lime for lemon among other changes. I still would like to try the original recipe as I imagine it tastes excellent as well.

There was quite a bit of dressing in the end, and it was pretty thick, so we ended up adding extra water compared to the original recipe, and, after using it for salad on a second day, we used the dressing as a dip for vegetables. It was excellent.

Peanut Salad Dressing


1/2 cup peanut butter

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp honey

2 tsp garlic puree

1 tbsp ginger puree

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

1. Place all ingredients except water in a blender and puree until smooth.
2. Slowly add water as required to reach the desired consistency.

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Whiskey Mustard

• 1/2 cup yellow mustard seeds
• 1/2 cup brown mustard seeds
• 2/3 cup cider vinegar
• 2/3 cup whiskey
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup runny honey
• 1 tbsp grated nutmeg
• 1 tbsp mustard powder
• 1 tbsp salt

1. pulse ½ cup of yellow and ½ cup of brown in a spice grinder, leaving some chunky bits.
2. Add the ground seeds, cider vinegar and whiskey. Sitr and let sit for at least four hours or overnight.
3. Puree in blender until thickened.

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Peanut Butter, Banana, and Honey Cookies

• 1-1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 4 tbsp butter (unsalted)
• 2 cups brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 ripe banana, mashed (about 1 cup)
• 2 cups oats

Peanut Butter Honey Glaze:

• 3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp honey

1. Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.
3. In the mixer bowl, fold butter, sugar and brown sugar and mix until smooth.
4. Continue mixing while adding peanut butter, honey, vanilla and egg.
5. Continue mixing and add the banana.
6. Continue mixing and slowly add the flour mixture.
7. Continue mixing and add the oats.
8. Using a cookie scoop, place dough balls 2-inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets or baking mats.
9. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden and cool on wire racks.
10. To make the glaze, combine peanut butter, powdered sugar, milk, and honey in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. If the mixture is too thick, add more milk. If it's too thin, add more sugar. Drizzle glaze over cookies once they've cooled.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Recipe inspired by Two Peas and their Pod

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Basil-honey Dressing

• 1/2 cup basil leaves, firmly packed
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• salt, to taste

Combine all ingredients in a tall container and mix using an immersion blender.

Note: shake well before serving.

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